I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to mechanized material handling devices. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus for scooping, lifting and dumping objects, either hard or soft-sided, into a fixed or removable collection receptacle.
II. Discussion of the Related Art
Over the years, the labor intensive collection of waste and recyclable materials has become increasingly automated. To further automate the collection process, considerable changes and advancements have been made to the vehicles used to collect, haul, and dispose of waste and recyclable materials. To this end, collection vehicle types have been developed that load from the back, front, or side.
Furthermore, the types of containers in which materials are placed at the points of collection have evolved into various designs to assist in collection automation. For example, the containers may be large rigid steel enclosures, rigid plastic cans, removable collection receptacles, or one use throw away receptacles. The existence of many types of containers, of course, has led to the development of a variety of dedicated accessing, lifting and dumping devices carried by collection vehicles.
Recognition of the need to automate the collection of waste materials, has led to the development of mechanized handling devices including container holding or grasping devices. These grasping devices are commonly connected to an arm which is connected to a base, such as a collection vehicle. The arm and grasping device are operated to engage, lift and dump a container of interest into a receiving hopper of the collection vehicle.
Many current grasping devices attempt to simulate the movement and grasping of the opposed thumb and forefinger of a primate. Opposing members of a typical grasping device are drawn together toward a central plane. In use, the opposing members surround a container and pinch the container with enough force so that the container does not slip through the opposing members.
A representative example of such a grasping device appears in U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,039, issued to Holtom, which describes a refuse loader arm that includes a lift member and a reach member articulated to one another at a pivot point. The lift member pivots vertically and is attached at one end to the refuse vehicle. The reach member is further articulated at its free end to a pair of finger like members which are held at a constant angle to the lift member by a parallelogram linkage. The lift member and the reach member pivot in a common plane to reach out and grasp the container of interest and lift and dump the container.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,903, issued to Carson, describes an apparatus for picking up containers wherein a boom arm is attached to a platform. The platform is pivotally attached to a refuse vehicle for rotating in a generally horizontal plane, and the boom arm is pivotally attached to the platform for pivoting vertically to raise and dump a container. Two pick-up arms, in relatively parallel spaced relation and attached to the boom arm, are provided to squeeze the container.
Examples of other grasping devices including a single actuator and a pair of arcuate arms are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,461,608, to Boda; 4,708,570, to Smith et al.; and 5,026,104, to Pickrell. Each of the devices described in these patents includes a relatively complex linkage mechanism not designed to grasp soft sided containers such as plastic bags. Boda describes an apparatus including a pair of arcuate arms connected to a common support member at spaced pivot joints. A shaft is connected to each arm and to a lever arm, wherein movement of the lever arm by an actuator causes the shaft to rotate to move the gripping arms. Smith et al. describe a grasping device including a single actuator pivotally connected to an arcuate arm and a connecting rod attached to this arm to operate a second arcuate arm to grasp an object of interest. Pickrell describes a gripping device having a single actuator attached to a lever which, in turn, is attached to rotate an arcuate arm having gears meshed with gears operating a second arcuate arm. The arms carry a belt or flexible mechanism to enclose and grab circular objects of various sizes. In each of these systems a relatively complex linkage mechanism is required to move the arms.
Grasping devices which include multiple actuators and a pair of single member arcuate arms have been described in U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 34,292, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,227,849 and 4,872,801. In each of these patents, the arms are pivotally attached to a common support member and operated by hydraulic cylinders pivotally attached to the same support member.
A grasping device including multiple actuators and arms having multiple members is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,940, issued to Englehardt et al. That device provides a pair of straight secondary arms pivoted to a common support member inside a pair of angled primary arms. The secondary arms roll along the inside of the primary arms to form a hexagon as the primary arms are pushed together by hydraulic cylinders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,731, issued to Jones et al, describes a grasping device including two compound (segmented) arcuate arms linked to an I-beam member operated by actuators. The inner portion or segment member of each arm is slidably attached to the I-beam member which, in turn, is pivotally attached to the common support member. The I-beams rotate to move the inner members between an open and a closed position as the actuating hydraulic cylinders retract and expand, respectively. The outer portions or segment members of each arm are pivotally attached to the inner member and rollers at the end of each I-beam cause the outer members to rotate about the pivot joint to grasp an object.
The devices discussed above are designed to grasp generally circular, relatively rigid objects. A device for lifting and holding containers having a plurality of basic rigid shapes is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,407, to Breckenridge. Breckenridge describes a device having a pair of arms including an inner member pivoted at one end to a frame and an outer member pivoted between its ends to the second end of the inner member. A complex linkage mechanism is attached between the frame and the two members for coordinating movement of the inner and outer members. While the mechanism is functional, this device also does not effectively grasp plastic bags or other soft sided containers.
PCT International Application Publication No. WO 92/01612 describes a device for grasping containers of several rigid shapes. The described device includes oppositely disposed compound articulated arms pivotally attached to a central support member. Each arm includes an inner and an outer member curved to fit around a container and having grip padding for holding the container. In operation, the arms are moved by four actuators. Although gripping pads are provided, a soft sided container would slip through the articulated arms.
Other refuse collection systems have included grasping and loading systems. Side-loading mechanisms of this type are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,910,434 and 4,090,626 to Ebeling et al.; 4,427,333 to Ebeling; and 4,597,710 to Kovats. A vertical rail assembly having a bin-gripping carriage apparatus for engaging, lifting and dumping a refuse container is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,786 to Bingman.
Loading devices having dedicated multi-compartment collection receptacles which operate using guided mechanized lift and dump systems to lift and empty containers into corresponding receptacles have also been described. One such system is shown in Dinneen (U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,531). The internal compartments are discharged by tilting the truck body relative to the chassis. In Seader (U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,271), an enclosed bucket having an open top is mounted on each side of the truck's chassis, forward of a rear-loading refuse body, wherein the buckets are emptied into larger side loading compartments. Mezey (U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,563) discloses multi-compartment container/hopper systems for front and side-loading trucks.
A further side-loading multi-compartment system is depicted by Ratledge, Jr., et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,496. Other partitioned side bucket manually loaded multi-compartment refuse truck bodies are illustrated and described by Horning et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,288,196 and 5,316,430 and by Glomski in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,025. Howells et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,070) discloses a single sided partitioned bucket which loads compartments forward of a rear-loading refuse body mounted on an elongated frame. Although these systems incorporate grasping mechanisms, none of these grasping devices are able to mechanically scoop a soft sided container or scoop and grasp a hard sided container.
As is evident from the above discussion, a rather large number of grasping, gripping, and lift/dump mechanisms have been devised which take many forms and levels of complexity. Individually, however, these devices generally lack the versatility required to address a typical mixed container load presented by a household or the like which may consist of a variety of containers of fixed shape and soft containers such as refuse bags and possibly other debris. The present invention contemplates an improved more versatile container grasping and emptying or loading system that combines many desired attributes. The system can be used to load single or multi-compartment collection receptacle. The container handling system emptying device is equipped to scoop or grab both hard sided and soft disposable containers, such as refuse bags, either separately or in combination. The present invention also simplifies the mechanical complexity of prior grasping systems and introduces improvements which facilitate efficient operation.
It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide a mechanically simplified device for handling objects of various shapes and rigidities.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanically simplified scooping and grasping device that includes actuators for scooping or grasping objects of various shapes, sizes and rigidities.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a mechanically simplified scooping device that pivots in both a generally horizontal or generally vertical plane.
A further object of the invention is to provide a simplified scooping device associated with a multi-compartment collection vehicle having a divided charging hopper.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art through familiarity with the summary of the invention, detailed description, claims, and drawings herein.